Gauge theory, topological strings, and S-duality

We offer a derivation of the duality between the topological U(1) gauge theory on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold and the topological A-model on the same manifold. This duality was conjectured recently by Iqbal, Nekrasov, Okounkov, and Vafa. We deduce it from the S-duality of the IIB superstring. We also argue that the mirror version of this duality relates the topological B-model on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold and a topological sector of the Type IIA Little String Theory on the same manifold.Comment: 9 pages, latex. v2: a footnote has been added. The footnote corrects an inaccuracy in the original argument; the results are unchanged. v3: exposition improve

Black Hole Attractors and the Topological String

A simple relationship of the form Z_BH = |Z_top|^2 is conjectured, where Z_BH is a supersymmetric partition function for a four-dimensional BPS black hole in a Calabi-Yau compactification of Type II superstring theory and Z_top is a second-quantized topological string partition function evaluated at the attractor point in moduli space associated to the black hole charges. Evidence for the conjecture in a perturbation expansion about large graviphoton charge is given. The microcanonical ensemble of BPS black holes can be viewed as the Wigner function associated to the wavefunction defined by the topological string partition function.Comment: 32 pages, harvma

Calculation of Forces at Focal Adhesions from Elastic Substrate Data: The Effect of Localized Force and the Need for Regularization

AbstractForces exerted by stationary cells have been investigated on the level of single focal adhesions by combining elastic substrates, fluorescence labeling of focal adhesions, and the assumption of localized force when solving the inverse problem of linear elasticity theory. Data simulation confirms that the inverse problem is ill-posed in the presence of noise and shows that in general a regularization scheme is needed to arrive at a reliable force estimate. Spatial and force resolution are restricted by the smoothing action of the elastic kernel, depend on the details of the force and displacement patterns, and are estimated by data simulation. Corrections arising from the spatial distribution of force and from finite substrate size are treated in the framework of a force multipolar expansion. Our method is computationally cheap and could be used to study mechanical activity of cells in real time

Supergravity description of field theories on curved manifolds and a no go theorem

In the first part of this paper we find supergravity solutions corresponding to branes on worldvolumes of the form $R^d \times \Sigma$ where $\Sigma$ is a Riemann surface. These theories arise when we wrap branes on holomorphic Riemann surfaces inside $K3$ or CY manifolds. In some cases the theory at low energies is a conformal field theory with two less dimensions. We find some non-singular supersymmetric compactifications of M-theory down to $AdS_5$. We also propose a criterion for permissible singularities in supergravity solutions. In the second part of this paper, which can be read independently of the first, we show that there are no non-singular Randall-Sundrum or de-Sitter compactifications for large class of gravity theories.Comment: latex, 37 pages. v2: References adde

Generating new dualities through the orbifold equivalence: a demonstration in ABJM and four-dimensional quivers

We show that the recently proposed large $N$ equivalence between ABJM theories with Chern-Simons terms of different rank and level, U(N_1)_{k_1}\times U(N_1)_{-k_1} and U(N_2)_{k_2}\times U(N_2)_{-k_2}, but the same value of N' =N_1 k_1=N_2 k_2, can be explained using planar equivalence in the mirror duals. The combination of S-dualities and orbifold equivalence can be applied to other cases as well, with very appealing results. As an example we show that two different quiver theories with k nodes can be easily shown to be Seiberg dual through the orbifold equivalence, but it requires order k^2 steps to give a proof when Seiberg duality is performed node by node.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, minor changes and references adde

Multivalued Fields on the Complex Plane and Conformal Field Theories

In this paper a class of conformal field theories with nonabelian and discrete group of symmetry is investigated. These theories are realized in terms of free scalar fields starting from the simple $b-c$ systems and scalar fields on algebraic curves. The Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations for the conformal blocks can be explicitly solved. Besides of the fact that one obtains in this way an entire class of theories in which the operators obey a nonstandard statistics, these systems are interesting in exploring the connection between statistics and curved space-times, at least in the two dimensional case.Comment: (revised version), 30 pages + one figure (not included), (requires harvmac.tex), LMU-TPW 92-1

Anti-de Sitter/CFT Correspondence in Three-Dimensional Supergravity

Anti-de Sitter supergravity models are considered in three dimensions. Precise asymptotic conditions involving a chiral projection are given on the Rarita-Schwinger fields. Together with the known boundary conditions on the bosonic fields, these ensure that the asymptotic symmetry algebra is the superconformal algebra. The classical central charge is computed and found to be equal to the one of pure gravity. It is also indicated that the asymptotic degrees of freedom are described by 2D "induced supergravity" and that the boundary conditions "transmute" the non-vanishing components of the WZW supercurrent into the supercharges.Comment: Additional remarks in the extended case, added references, and small misprints corrected. To appear in Phys. Rev. D. Latex, 19 pages, no figure

Lectures on BCOV holomorphic anomaly equations

The present article surveys some mathematical aspects of the BCOV holomorphic anomaly equations introduced by Bershadsky, Cecotti, Ooguri and Vafa. It grew from a series of lectures the authors gave at the Fields Institute in the Thematic Program of Calabi-Yau Varieties in the fall of 2013.Comment: reference added, typos correcte

ABCD of Beta Ensembles and Topological Strings

We study beta-ensembles with Bn, Cn, and Dn eigenvalue measure and their relation with refined topological strings. Our results generalize the familiar connections between local topological strings and matrix models leading to An measure, and illustrate that all those classical eigenvalue ensembles, and their topological string counterparts, are related one to another via various deformations and specializations, quantum shifts and discrete quotients. We review the solution of the Gaussian models via Macdonald identities, and interpret them as conifold theories. The interpolation between the various models is plainly apparent in this case. For general polynomial potential, we calculate the partition function in the multi-cut phase in a perturbative fashion, beyond tree-level in the large-N limit. The relation to refined topological string orientifolds on the corresponding local geometry is discussed along the way.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figur

Supersymmetric Extension of GCA in 2d

We derive the infinite dimensional Supersymmetric Galilean Conformal Algebra (SGCA) in the case of two spacetime dimensions by performing group contraction on 2d superconformal algebra. We also obtain the representations of the generators in terms of superspace coordinates. Here we find realisations of the SGCA by considering scaling limits of certain 2d SCFTs which are non-unitary and have their left and right central charges become large in magnitude and opposite in sign. We focus on the Neveu-Schwarz sector of the parent SCFTs and develop, in parallel to the GCA studies recently in (arXiv:0912.1090), the representation theory based on SGCA primaries, Ward identities for their correlation functions and their descendants which are null states.Comment: La TeX file, 32 pages; v2: typos corrected, journal versio